Cannabis & Cancer: The Blame Game (Part 2) (Educated Stoner Series Part 4 of 9)

In general the medical industry today tells the average American they are at fault for their own health woes, as if all the poisons polluting the world had nothing to do with any of it.

The rhetoric seems to be, if you have Lobular Carcinoma it’s because you took Hormone Replacement; you have Ductal Carcinoma because you drank more than three glasses of alcohol a day, you had children after 30 or you didn’t have them at all; Lung Cancer is due to your use of cigarettes, or you stood too close to someone who was smoking them; skin Cancer is for lack of sun screen; heart disease, you ate too many fatty foods.

The limited lists of illusive causes for serious illness and disorders, combined with the redirecting of blame for our modern-day ailments is enough to make anyone sick.

As a Cannabis patient I’m frustrated at the lack of information and research on Cannabis and Cancer in this country, let alone a vague window of information on why or how I became unwell.

The summer of 2012 a routine mammogram found a spider-web-like mass in my breast. A quick look at the Mayo Clinic’s site found an exact replica of the mass, with one just one possible cause listed, “hormone replacement.”

The mammogram was done as a preventive measure, as I had been on the hormone replacement for just two weeks and immediately stopped taking them. That said, my sister had been diagnosed with the same cancer two years prior, going through surgery, chemo, and radiation – and she had never taken a single hormone replacement.

Once Upon a Time

What we do know is our mother was raised on a farm in Illinois, and she told us stories of dancing under the rain of DDT as crop dusters flew above. It was a game. The pesticide companies told them it was good for them. Everyone in her family died of cancers.

In 1962 Rachel Carson’s tell-all, “Silent Spring,” was the catalyst for environmental change, prompting the Clean Air and Water Acts of 1973 and 1974, respectively. Carson warned of cell damage leading to cancers and predicted our onslaught of neurological, autoimmune, and central nervous system disorders in our future.

In 2014 the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” otherwise known as the “DSM,” listing all the ailments dealt with thus far in the field of psychiatry, came out with a new list replacing the word “illness” with “disorder.”

This new classification further demonstrates we are a species made out-of-order, but just why or how we became like this is never stated.

One theory is we are doomed by our own hand, or, more specifically, by toxins created by us – heavy metals leached from cookware; synthetic medications made from petroleum byproducts, cleaning solvents, and other industrial compounds; such as lead or aluminum used in our everyday lives that have poisonous properties.

I’m second generation DDT, but I also came up in the age of lead paint, and even if I were to blame these two substances solely for my autoimmune disorders, or my processing problems under the autistic spectrum, the world today contains more than seven million recognized chemicals, with more than 80,000 of them in common use.

Eat Your Medicine!

So there I was, looking at the mass, when I remembered an earlier conversation with Dr. William Courtney the year prior on juicing. The California physician had helped his wife do away with more than 20 prescription meds previously needed to treat Lupus.

I also remembered hearing of the strong oil, otherwise known as RSO or Rick Simpson Oil and began networking with medicine makers for a batch.

In the five weeks that passed prior to the biopsy I had eaten raw leaves in salads, and made a drink in the blender. I had already been ingesting a light oil for sleep from a company in the Bay area called “Internal,” but I was not diligent in my ingesting as it was new to me, and I was not hopeful the minimal ingesting would do anything.

As I lay there with the technician gliding the magic wand over my breast, he said, “I can’t seem to find it.”

After looking at past and current views, the surgeon said, “We might not do this today.”

To which I informed, “I’ve been ingesting raw Cannabis – that may be the reason,” to which he asks if he can do that therapy too.

Typical Stoner vs. Enlightened Patient

Why is it that stoner jokes always seem to come into play whether medicine is being discussed or not? As if getting high is the end-all, as I lay there with my boob exposed and jelled, facing the big “C.”

But this is my moment to enlighten, and I advise, no, ingesting of raw Cannabis will not get you high, and teased that it may not be the treatment for him, to which he was comically disappointed.

He then informed that he was part of a Cannabis experiment in medical school during the 1960s that found medicinal value to the plant, such as in treating nausea.

As he tells it, they injected him with a Cannabis serum (heated, no doubt), and he said he became so excited (intoxicated is more like it), he grabbed the ass of the attending nurse.

This admission was met with howls of laughter from the attending staff, but I pressed on.

“That must have been a strong batch,” I say, to more chuckles. I then advise him of the practice of eating raw leaves versus heating Cannabis for psychoactive effects of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol).

Personal Trials

Stumped at the lack of mass, the good doctor wanted to go ahead with the procedure, “… as long as we are all here,” he declared. I took this as my chance to do a little trial myself and asked if we could postpone the procedure another month while I continue with my own therapy. Thankfully, he agreed.

During the next five weeks I ingested RSO, while still ingesting raw leaves. And the most amazing thing happened, all my symptoms from Thyroid Disease and additional hormonal issues from Menopause fell away. Complications with digestion, fatigue, and numerous other symptoms ceased to exist.

Prior to taking the strong oil I had only smoked to medicate, and used the light oil, “Internal” for sleep. Eating the raw leaf combined with the oil turned my body around.

Writer and Producer Sharon Letts began her life’s work at age of 24 as a flower gardener in Southern California.

Gardening turned to media, when she was asked to produce and host a visiting gardening show, In and Out of the Garden, for local television. She then went on to executive produce, Off the Beaten Path, a travelogue in California for PBS.

After working as a field and segment producer for documentary and magazine shows for television in Los Angeles, Sharon was brought up to Humboldt County to produce a news show.

While working in media in the cannabis capital of the world, Sharon presented with Lobular Carcinoma (breast cancer). Due to her location, she was given cannabis oil, successfully putting the cancer into remission, while simultaneously doing away with up to 10 prescription medications and supplements.

To date, Sharon has covered six states and three countries on cannabis as medicine; writing internationally for many publications. Her many patient profiles include cover features on celebrities, Tommy Chong, Willie Nelson, and Melissa Etheridge.

She has published two works of fiction, and has just finished a screenplay from her book Cannaopolis, inspired by her time in Humboldt County; and is currently developing and pitching intelligent magazine, reality and documentary shows for TV on the subject.